Starting with the cover, we begin to see the author and illustrator, Lewis Carroll’s amazing use of simple yet beautiful alignment. The title is neatly organized in concentric boxes on the leather cover of a lovely bound, hand written novel. Carroll begins the novel by illustrating a cover page that shows great use of color and contrast. The title is a different color scheme than the background, helping the reader to see the important words on the page but not loosing the sweet and delicate style of the artwork. The words in the title are arranged in an asymmetric style, creating an interesting, yet balanced feeling. Where there aren’t words, there are ornately designed flowers which create a sense of alignment on the initial page. Throughout the novel, Carroll continues to use this concept of alignment when he offsets small paragraphs with sketches of Alice and the characters she meets. There are only pictures about once every two pages, not to interrupt from the great story being told by pen and paper. The font, if you can call it that as it was hand written in a lovely type print, is consistent and repetitious. There is a clearly organized fashion to the start and stop of each major section in the writing. In addition to demonstrating repetition in the work, this consistency also helps to generate of a feeling of proximity. Like minded ideas are grouped together in sections, each being accompanied by a picture to help tell the story.
Initially, flipping through the digital pages of this well established novel, I got the sense that older authors used design not only to organize their work but to help the reader feel comfortable with the text. If readers are comfortable, then they are more apt to read and be satisfied with the story overall. Lewis Carroll was a very organized writer and illustrator and greatly put to use the concepts of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity to help portray a great story that would someday make him very famous.
Week 3: Animation
I am completely stunned with how fun it is to animate stick figures! I can imagine that the kids would have a great time animating shapes for Geometry! I hope that at some point I can work up a project for them that is high enough level to be worth it. Until then, I'll just continue playing with Stykz and creating fun little videos like this one:
Enjoy!
Week 5: Course Embedded Reflection
Digital web tools, design and web site creation are skills that are increasingly important for teachers and students. This course has asked us to work on the concepts of design, apply those concepts to create a logo and use our skills to animate and design a website ready for others to use. The issue with digital design is explained well by Lea Alcantara when she says “Why build a [digital] brand at all? Simply put, it’s because you’re creating a relationship with someone you don’t know yet — and in order to make it successful, honesty must be at the forefront.” (2009). I completely agree with her and that sentiment is exactly what I learned from this course. Everything you do in your online life reflects on who you are, what you stand for and how people perceive you. If you are not honest and compelling, you’ve lost your audience before you even begin.
As a learner, this course allowed me to add tools to my trade. The restructuring of Blooms Taxonmoy by Andrew Churches helps to apply these digital skills to the educational realm. He mentions that Taxonomy of skills was updated in 2001 to incorporate words that would support technological teaching and learning (2007). Discussing these ideas with colleagues and using them to create a web site that incorporates a lot of this new learning hierarchy has helped me become a more well rounded educator. I can see that in the future I will work harder to instill these skills in students.
“The only way that educators can teach and promote reflective practice by their students (of all ages) in their own classrooms is to engage in, embrace, and fully understand this process themselves.”(Gerstein, 2011). This quote says it all. By going through this course and really looking at the way technology affects the way we teach, it has become a more important part of the way I will do my job.
Week 1: Reflection on ancient text regarding elements of design.
Book: Alice's Adventures Under Ground By: Lewis Carroll
Click here to see the novel for yourself!
http://ttpdownload.bl.uk/app_files/xbap/BrowserApp.xbap?id=86825520-a671-11db-a264-0050c2490048&spread=0
Starting with the cover, we begin to see the author and illustrator, Lewis Carroll’s amazing use of simple yet beautiful alignment. The title is neatly organized in concentric boxes on the leather cover of a lovely bound, hand written novel. Carroll begins the novel by illustrating a cover page that shows great use of color and contrast. The title is a different color scheme than the background, helping the reader to see the important words on the page but not loosing the sweet and delicate style of the artwork. The words in the title are arranged in an asymmetric style, creating an interesting, yet balanced feeling. Where there aren’t words, there are ornately designed flowers which create a sense of alignment on the initial page. Throughout the novel, Carroll continues to use this concept of alignment when he offsets small paragraphs with sketches of Alice and the characters she meets. There are only pictures about once every two pages, not to interrupt from the great story being told by pen and paper. The font, if you can call it that as it was hand written in a lovely type print, is consistent and repetitious. There is a clearly organized fashion to the start and stop of each major section in the writing. In addition to demonstrating repetition in the work, this consistency also helps to generate of a feeling of proximity. Like minded ideas are grouped together in sections, each being accompanied by a picture to help tell the story.
Initially, flipping through the digital pages of this well established novel, I got the sense that older authors used design not only to organize their work but to help the reader feel comfortable with the text. If readers are comfortable, then they are more apt to read and be satisfied with the story overall. Lewis Carroll was a very organized writer and illustrator and greatly put to use the concepts of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity to help portray a great story that would someday make him very famous.
Week 3: Animation
I am completely stunned with how fun it is to animate stick figures! I can imagine that the kids would have a great time animating shapes for Geometry! I hope that at some point I can work up a project for them that is high enough level to be worth it. Until then, I'll just continue playing with Stykz and creating fun little videos like this one:
Enjoy!
Week 5: Course Embedded Reflection
Digital web tools, design and web site creation are skills that are increasingly important for teachers and students. This course has asked us to work on the concepts of design, apply those concepts to create a logo and use our skills to animate and design a website ready for others to use. The issue with digital design is explained well by Lea Alcantara when she says “Why build a [digital] brand at all? Simply put, it’s because you’re creating a relationship with someone you don’t know yet — and in order to make it successful, honesty must be at the forefront.” (2009). I completely agree with her and that sentiment is exactly what I learned from this course. Everything you do in your online life reflects on who you are, what you stand for and how people perceive you. If you are not honest and compelling, you’ve lost your audience before you even begin.
As a learner, this course allowed me to add tools to my trade. The restructuring of Blooms Taxonmoy by Andrew Churches helps to apply these digital skills to the educational realm. He mentions that Taxonomy of skills was updated in 2001 to incorporate words that would support technological teaching and learning (2007). Discussing these ideas with colleagues and using them to create a web site that incorporates a lot of this new learning hierarchy has helped me become a more well rounded educator. I can see that in the future I will work harder to instill these skills in students.
“The only way that educators can teach and promote reflective practice by their students (of all ages) in their own classrooms is to engage in, embrace, and fully understand this process themselves.”(Gerstein, 2011). This quote says it all. By going through this course and really looking at the way technology affects the way we teach, it has become a more important part of the way I will do my job.
Alcantara, L. (2009). The art of self branding. Retrieved from http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-three/.
Churches, A. (2007, April). Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670
Gerstein, J. (2011, August). Where is reflection in the learning process. User Generated Education.Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/.